


Golden Hour

by Guhthulu



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, F/F, Fantasy, Horror, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Occult, Original Character(s), POV Lesbian Character, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, Urban Fantasy, Useless Lesbians, Vampires, Werewolves, Witchcraft, Witches, original - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-20 04:48:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guhthulu/pseuds/Guhthulu
Summary: A reluctant vampire works as a librarian, living as mundane a life as you can when you're extramundane. She meets a very normal looking girl with a normal home life, normal college life and a semi-normal name, and clings onto the normality of this girl. Shenanigans ensue when her friends meet her new companion. And much more paranormal happenings, to the dismay of this vampire.this is my first original work that I've actually committed to and, uh, perhaps my first work ever on here? I just really like vampire and werewolf lesbians bro. It's set in Ireland and also they play minecraft UwO Anyway, enjoy.





	1. Chapter 1

It was golden hour, and streamers of light were beaming right through the library doors and windows like golden blades. Stacks and shelves were lit with blocks of bright orange, and dust motes spiraled through the air like faeries. The last dregs of students lingered, thirty minutes before closing time. Baby hairs shined on my arms and face as I balanced my pen between my fore finger and the desk. I rolled a puff of air between my lips like smoke from a cigarette, already longing for the end of my shift so I could get a huff of the real thing. The library wasn’t my first choice for a job, but it’s not like students got the first cut of the joint anyways. 

The rich sun was blaring in my eyes. I had to squint to avoid burning my retinas. I didn’t have any work to do or any books to organize, i’d already done it all. I gained little joy in terrorizing the older patrons with my “bold” looks. I really didn’t understand old people and their judgy shit, I didn’t dress like this for them. Just because I looked like I stuck my face and hair in a pit of tar didn’t mean I was the new neighborhood cryptid. Well, I wasn’t a tar monster anyway, I was a vampire. If you’d like a description, I was your standard goth. Black hair, up in a bun because my employers liked me to be neat, but I was kinda vibing with the messy bun style. bunch of piercings including snake bites and a tongue piercing which had my fangs going haywire for a day, baggy band shirt over a striped long sleeve shirt cause why not. Chains, ripped jeans, dark makeup, nothing original. The only bit that wasn’t black and white was my boots, which were very, very hot pink, like so pink. I saw them and cried at the sheer pinkness. Wait, forget that. Goths don’t cry.

While I was working my inner monologue and maybe drooling a little, some kid decided to walk in like twenty minutes before closing time. I had to hold in a groan. The nerd walked up to the desk with her big green eyes and huge round glasses. She pushed them up her nose with a quick gesture. Nerd. She approached the desk, attempting to stand up to her full height, which wasn’t that much, and gave a little smile. 

“Um, excuse me.” She squeaked, and she raised a hand to catch my eye. Normally I wouldn’t be annoyed by someone’s voice, I’m not petty and I try not to be rude, but at this late in the day my ears would rumble when someone so much as spoke to me. So of course I abandoned my friendly librarian act.

I stared at her as if popping a metaphorical gum bubble between my pursed lips. “Whatcha want?” I grunted with a raised eyebrow. Oh the sweet thing, she had looked so taken aback. Damn my grumpy ass for terrorizing innocent anxious kids.

She touched her hand to her glasses again in a tick, too fast to actually push them back into place. “S-sorry, uh. Could you point me to the occult section? I don’t frequent this library often and the labels for genres are obscured by the disorganized shelved most of the time.” I softened a little.

“Sure. I’ll lead you there. It’s not exactly the easiest section to find in this labyrinth.” She gave me a grateful smile as I slid out of my desk chair. That was when I realized how short she was. I was a pretty average height at five seven, but this girl was up to just below my collar. That was assuming that she is the same age as me, she might’ve been sixteen, eighteen. I really couldn’t tell. She was swamped by everything she wore and that didn’t exactly help her in the size department. I led her to the back of the library, where we kept our more unsavoury fiction, and maybe a little non-fiction about cults and the use of black magic, but I wouldn’t know anything about that.

I attempted to make conversation to keep her at ease. “I kinda feel like a tutorial npc leading you through your first dungeon or something. Anyway, why’s someone like you looking to get into dark shit? You look a bit too… Soft, for it.”

“S-someone like me?” She peeped, “Oh uh, it’s for um, it’s for an assignment. We have to find a book we typically wouldn’t read and do an analysis on it.”

“That’s pretty unconventional.” We slowed as we got to the shelves labelled ‘occult/horror.’ I thought it fitting that the shelves here were much older, and hadn’t been moved in over a decade. They were also huge, scary and a general pain in the ass to organize. I leaned back against one of the creaking cabinets and watched as the nerd scanned the shelves. This was another time where a cigarette or a stick of bubblegum between my fangs would have been a pretty good metaphor for my attitude then. There was ten minutes before the library closed and I was pretty sure me and this girl were the only two still here. I tapped my foot on the hollow floor.

She made a beeline straight to the non-fiction section, which I was about to give her a disclaimer about for the amount of polygamous satanistic sex cult shit that riddled the place. Seriously I didn’t understand why those were a thing. But she didn’t seem too deterred. Thankfully she didn’t waste my time, and came back with three dusty tomes that I didn’t quite catch the titles of.

“Thank you very much! I’m sorry if i kept you too long.” She hurried with the books in her arms, almost slipping from her grip.

“It’s only five minutes before the library closes, so, you’re fine. Here, let me carry those.” I scooped them from her arms and she blushed, tapping her glasses.

“Thank you.” I strode back through the shelves to the desk, the girl scampering beside me to keep up. God why didn’t I ask people’s names? I couldn’t just refer to her as ‘the girl’ or ‘the nerd.’ I’d ask her when we got outside. I set the books down for a moment and grabbed my bag and the keys, then helped her transfer the books to her own bag and we checked that everyone else has left. In the last hour of my shift it had already turned dark, and lampposts flickered on with that low electric hum. To me the night was comfort, I usually didn’t keep lights on if I could help it. But I could sense the flash of fear on my friend’s face when she realized how dark it had gotten. She ran a hand through her cropped curls and turned to face me.

“Well, this is where we part ways.” She stuck her hand out like a dork and I took it with my immaculately manicured black claws (an exaggeration of course, I keep them short for… reasons.) I shrugged.

“Who said this is where we gotta part ways? I could give you a ride with my bike if you want. ‘Sides, I’d feel guilty if some creature snatched you up. Well, not counting me.” I joked. She gave a pitiful laugh, but her shoulders relaxed.

“Thank you, I think i’ll take you up on that offer. I never got your name, by the way?” Oh hell yeah.

“It’s Alice. What about you?”

“Widget. My parents named me a dog’s name and gave my dog a human name, how tragic.” I belted an embarrassing laugh at that.

If you were expecting a motorbike you’d be disappointed, I didn’t have a drivers license and nor will I ever get one. Cars made me super motion sick, and I was pretty content with my little pink old lady bike with a woven basket at the front. I hooked my leg over the seat, but Widget needed a little help. We wobbled but eventually took off. I rode slow enough that she could point out the directions to her house, but what was a bike ride in the middle of the night without a bit of excitement? 

“Hold on tight.” I warned , and I caught a glimpse of her eyes widening. she pressed her face to my shoulder and hugged my midsection as we zoomed down a steep hill, almost vertical. I took my feet off the pedals for a moment and let us soar. Her legs were shaking, but her smile was there. I pumped the pedals and kept up our speed and soon we made it to her street, which just so happened to be close by mine. We skidded to a halt and I let her off. She ran a hand through her hair, out of breath.

“That was. Something. Thank you so much Alice.”

“It’s nothing.” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. I guess something just made me want to stare at her flushed cheeks a little longer, cause I had this bright idea.

“Hey wait, Widget. Could I get your number?”

“O-oh! Sure I guess.” She flustered, and took my phone to type her number in. Our hands brushed and my heart quickened like a stupid piece of shit. Not cause I was attracted to her, but cause I guess that’s the typical kind of response people get to vague human interaction? I don’t know, I barely talked to any more than three people, but I stared like a fool until she gave me my phone, and then rode off as she waved from behind me.

I slept as soon as I hit my bed.

—

four weeks later and I didn’t know what I expected. We switched to Tumblr and messaged each other after we texted a little, and I saw her at the library twice, but mostly she was too busy with preparing for exams, and kept apologizing profusely every time she had been too busy to read my texts. I had found out she was two years younger than me at eighteen, that she majored in English Literature and Illustration, but I really didn’t have enough courage to actually ask her better questions. She seemed happy enough to talk to me though, and usually initiated our conversations, so I didn’t worry about being a creep. My exams were already over, so I had a lot of time on my hands.

I had a different schedule that day since I got off work for the weekend, so I got to leave at 4 and do whatever I wanted to do with the rest of the day. Which would probably be to slink around in the woods and consume a small animal or something, like a dignified monster would. You know how it was. I left after a quick exchange with my co-worker and began walking, not exactly sure where in town I would be going. There were day drinkers and art kids and hipsters around here, all coming from their residential lurking spots. Sometimes you’d get a group of stoners or emos (not to be confused with goths.) Speak of the devil, I spotted a familiar head of ginger brown tangles under a wine red beanie skulking around an alleyway, next to the pound shop across the street. Maybe a couple of other raggedy teens I didn’t give a shit about. God forbid Jackie actually look after her curls instead of hiding her mess under a hat.

“YO! Jackie!” I shouted her.

“Huh!” She turned around and her lazy smile widened into a toothy grin. She waved like an idiot as I jogged across the road to her. Honestly her friends seemed too stoned to care about me. She wore a military jacket and a striped shirt with some holes in it that didn’t seem to be intended. Her jeans were grubby and washed out and her pockets were filled to the brim with random junk.

I lowered my voice. “Are you really stoned in public? I thought we talked about this shit”

“Naww c’mon i’m not that stupid… It was just a couple of edibles. I don’t even have anything on me so I can’t get shit from the cops if they catch me.” My mouth thinned into a line.

“Yeah, well, you can get busted for loitering and being a public nuisance. And I’ll bet one of your wee junkie friends has got some shit on them that they mistook for pocket lint.” I gestured my arm towards them. Jackie narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together.

“So you’re sayin’ I should ditch them?”

I gave an exasperated sigh. “No I mean-”

“Okay! I’ll go with you then.” She looped her arm through mine and I got the full wholesome force of her grin three inches away from my face, and maybe a bit of weed breath. 

“Adios mis compadres.” She said to her friends with a salute. She turned us on heel and dragged me off.

“Do you even know any Spanish?”

“Yep. Those three words.” I mean, I guess that was that.

“Did you forget to brush your teeth this morning?”

“Maybe.”

“Where are we going?” 

“I dunno, probably my house.”

“Oh, ew, no. Your house sucks and your room smells like weed and you still live with your shitty parents.” Honestly Jackie’s parents were disgusting people and I hated the way they treated her, so I usually did anything to get her to go anywhere but her house.

She lay a hand on her heart in mock offence. “I’m hurt that you’d say that. But you’re right. We should go to your house then, I wanna look through all your stupid shiny trinkets again.”

“Pfft, you do that every time we go to my house.”

“I’m a simple person, I like going through your shit.” Jackie is the only person I’d trust to do that and not steal anything, and she let me play her one of a kind vintage limited edition Nintendo gameboy thingy sometimes so that was a good trade of trust if I did say so myself. Also Jackie was the entire opposite of a kleptomaniac. Where a kleptomaniac may steal my black lipstick or pocket my grandmother’s antique silverware which I did not keep displayed in my house as a prized possession, Jackie will deposit some cool junk she found somewhere in a drawer or place it on my desk, she may even slip it in my pocket. Once I found a neon green lipstick next to my black one when I was sixteen and I wore it for a whole year cause I thought it was cool and didn’t know where it came from. I only found out last year that she had put it there. I think she puts things around her friend’s houses without asking because she doesn’t want them to pay her back, honestly I just found it really sweet.

When we made it to my house Jackie was swaying and bumping into me and clinging to my sleeve, giggling and grinning at me. She and her friends must’ve left to go out recently. I kept saying friends, but they were just dealers. They sure as hell didn’t care if she got hurt while she was like this. I fumbled for my keys and ended up sorta kicking the door open after it was unlocked. We stumbled in. I tromp into the living room while Jackie clung to my waist from behind, and then shook her off like goop onto the couch. She may as well have been a pile of goo, because she instantly depressed into the cushions like liquid. I kicked off my shoes and she kicked at her own heels.

“Aliceeeee, dooo you have any snacks, no wait don’t leave I wanna hug youu but I want snacks ughhh…” She tossed her head back and smiled. “Your nose looks weird…”

I raised an eyebrow. “Thanks? I’ll grab you a pack of starburst and an apple i guess.” I walked into the kitchen and two seconds later I heard Jackie singing wheels on the bus. I walked back in with the acquired items and saw her upside down on the couch with her arms stretched up to the ceiling, still singing very horribly.

“What are you doing?” She didn’t answer but she did stop singing, and she directed her outstretched arms towards me and did a little grabbing motion. I handed her the items but she grabbed my wrist instead and pulled me onto the couch. I yelped and we sprawled in a pile of limbs.

“Ooh an apple.” She chirped, snatching it from my hand. I stared at her.

“Do you want the starbursts too?”

“No.” She mumbled, crunching happily. “You know, I think i read your journal yesterday.” I sat bolt upright. 

“You did what!? When? When I invited you over??” She nodded.

“I didn’t actually mean to do it, but you left it open on the desk at the last page and you had like put your face in your pillow and I sorta maybe scanned over it a little. I left a packet of butterscotch in your desk though, to compensate.” I groaned, putting my hands on my face and kicking my legs dramatically. 

“So it was my fault then, I shouldn’t have left it open.”

“Well now I know about your sweet little nerd crush. You also doodled a tiny picture of her and it was so c-” I slapped my hand over her mouth. She gave a muffled ‘ow’ and then proceeded to bite my pinky. I squealed as she broke out in guffaws, holding her stomach as her shoulders went up and down. I felt my face go warm.

“I don’t like her like that! She’s just nice, and, friendly ok? You can’t let anyone know I’m this soft, ever, especially not Jason or Daniel.”

“I mean it’s not exactly a secret. Your bike is pink and you have a little plush bunny on your bed and you always fall asleep when I play with your hair. Also nice? friendly? And by the description of her in the diary it seems like you’ve found another small fluffy object to shower your affections on.” I huffed through my nose and threw a pillow at her, Then got up and ran up the stairs. I flopped onto my bed like a dramatic actress, woe is me. Jackie always pried too much when she was high, but honestly she was right. I’d known Widget for a month and still couldn’t help catching feelings. Granted if she did reciprocate them I wasn’t going to jump into the relationship like that. I did like to take my time with new things. But for now I’d just… admire her as a friend. I heard Jackie’s footfalls on the stairs and buried my face in the duvet. The door opened and i heard a quick pattering and she landed on the bed next to me with a ‘wumpf.’

Those moments passed and we didn’t move. And then Jackie spoke.

“You left your phone downstairs and Widget texted. She asked if you wanna meet up tomorrow.” I shot over to her like a bullet and snatched my phone from her fingers. Her expression marvelled.

“Oh my god?! What do I say!” I read over the message multiple times. (Her username was so stupid but I loved it. And her use of emoticons was excessive.)

WidgeMidge: qwq Wow I really spent so much time hyping myself up for this. :I Would you like to hang oUUAGSFGijsh fd009adAjj.

WidgeMidge: Sorry!! my dog jumped on me.

Pink-Yet-Putrid: yeah sure

I dropped my phone and screamed silently into my hands. Jackie stared at me, smiling.

“My response was way too short, oh god. I should have asked where and when and oh god I-” Jackie put a finger to my lips and shu-shu-su-hushed me. She patted my forehead and pointed to the phone, which buzzed again. I checked the message.

WidgeMidge: :’) Oh!!! Great!!!!! Okay, well, you may come to my house tomorrow whenever you’re ready, I’m sure you know where my house is :3. Oh but don’t come before 2 O’clock O.o. I don’t want my parents to overwhelm you. But be mindful of the dog when you come in. Is that all okay?

Pink-Yet-Putrid: yeah, i’ll be down at three

Hell yeah.

—

I got there fifteen minutes early, stood on the doorstep for a solid minute, took a breath, and then knocked. I heard rapid muffled footsteps. The door was flung back and Widget, looking disheveled, grinned from ear to ear at me. I could feel the nervousness in my hands and face, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Hey! Alice. Come in. Did you bring your laptop?”

“Uhm, Yeah.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and stepped in with her.

“If Francis sees you just make sure you don’t react, he’ll calm down pretty quickly.”

“Who?” My question was answered not by Widget, but the absolute beast of a great dane that skidded into the hallway. It pointed it’s entire body at us and shook with the energy of a pack of wolves, and I felt my body go rigid.

Seemingly in slow motion, the dog bounded towards us. Huge jowls slopping, pointed ears flopping, legs flailing and I practically hissed at him. Actually I literally hissed, and cowered behind Widget while smiling like a maniac. 

“Oh my god, oh my god I love him so much oh my god Widget oh my god.” I clutched her shoulders, craning my head like a cat trying to get a good look at a flock of birds from a window. I wish I were observing him from behind a window though, I was terrified. His tail was a blur, but he was well behaved enough and held back from jumping on us. I still squeaked every time he so much as twitched though. 

“Alice, are you alright?” Widget asked, taking my hand. “If you’re afraid of him I can take him outside.” I looked at her dead in the eye. 

“I love dogs. So. Much.” She gave a confused grin but nodded.

“If you say so.” Still holding my hand, she dragged me into the living room. Francis following behind. I almost swatted him but I held back.

“Are you allergic to dogs Alice?” I shook my head.

“No there’s nothing wrong really.” I said, glaring at Francis as Widget sat me down on the couch.

“Please tell me if you’re uncomfortable with him, Alice. Anyway, would you like a drink? Tea or coffee? Juice?” Unless she had some iron rich blood stored somewhere other than her own body there wasn’t much I could drink. I could sip on water, just for the social aspect of drinking with someone. Alcohol was just consumed to get drunk, and sometimes even that was too much. Any other beverage was a no go. Tea, coffee, apple juice, milk? All made me nauseous.

“Just a glass of water please.” She left to the kitchen, still looking concerned. While she was gone I had a stare down with Francis, who just looked at me with his gorgeous goofy brown eyes and his head tilted to one side. To say he was huge was an understatement, he was a great dane and a half, almost as big as a wolf. And lord I wanted nothing more than to pet him. I curled right up in the corner of the couch and patted the space next to me. He got up and approached me with his head low and tail wagging. I was impressed by his etiquette. He clambered onto the couch and lay his head in my lap. My hands were frozen in mid air but my face was absolutely beaming. I felt blessed. (even though that’s impossible for a vampire.) 

Widget proceeded to walk in on me physically crying about a big dog putting it’s head in my lap, and rushed over to me.

“Alice! Are you alright?? Francis get off.” I stammered to tell her it was fine.

“Widget it’s fine. I love dogs i’m just a bit scared of them. I have a deathly fear of wolves, but for some reason I just really love dogs.” Widget stared at me in disbelief before smiling.

“Well I’ll do whatever to help you get over that. Anyway, here’s your water.”

“Thanks. Hey, I’ve calmed a bit, do you wanna play Minecraft?”

We proceeded to play Minecraft for five whole hours.

Widget found the ender portal in three hours and fought the ender dragon in iron armour and I was just in awe. (Shows how easily impressed I am.) She told me that she has spent ages playing the game since she was a kid. honestly I felt a stupid kind of respect for that. After too long of sitting around letting my legs atrophy I stood up and stretched. Widget was across the room sitting in the corner on a beanbag and I had been upside down on the couch, somehow managing to play. Being upside down just felt natural in a way. At some point we had started playing the twilight movies and I was able to make fun of it in express detail with my extensive knowledge of how it was like to actually be a vampire. (We do actually sparkle a little in the sun, but not like we’ve been dipped in a bath of glitter. It was because when a vampire turns, all of our hair goes white, including that on our skin, and it was very reflective. I dyed my hair black though.)

I turned around to see that Widget had fallen asleep. Her face was planted on her keyboard. I hunkered down next to her and placed my hands on her shoulders, waking her gently. She sat up and rubbed her eyes under her crooked glasses.

“Shit, did I fall asleep…?” 

“Yeah? You swore though oh my god.” She groaned and pulled me down next to her for a hug. It was a little too close for comfort, cause I felt heat rise in my cheeks, and her legs hooked over my own.

“I got like, three hours sleep last night cause I was thinking too much.” She explained, lying her head on my shoulder.

“Oh.” Was all I could say, I didn’t have to breathe but I didn’t know whether I should force it or not in case she noticed. Meanwhile I could hear every breath, every beat, every tick of her body. I heard her blood rushing and her heart racing, felt her fatigue. I rubbed her shoulder.

“D’you wanna go take a nap? I wouldn’t mind waiting.” She shook her head but I stopped her. “Please, Widget. I know your deadlines are coming up and I want you to look after yourself.” 

“Well come with me upstairs, I don’t want you sitting down here alone.” If my heart were beating it would have stopped. I nodded and we got up and went upstairs. She led me into her room. I made sure to get a good look at everything. It was very clean, all her belongings were neatly organized apart from dozens of piled up novels, notebooks and sketchbooks. 

“Feel free to look around my desk. Well actually don’t look at these notebooks.” She said, taking and shoving a pile of them under the bed. “They’re kind of weird.” She lay down on her bed, watching me with drowsy eyes. I sat at her desk and smiled, there were many little models and mannequins used for drawing, some looked expensive. I almost jumped back in surprise when I saw the human skull behind a pile of novels. 

“Jesus christ, didn’t expect you to have anything like this lying around.”

“I swear it’s not actually real. I just use it for drawing.” She mumbled. For some odd reason I had my doubts. I had noticed her heart rate and breathing has slowed, and turned to see she was fast asleep, glasses still on. I walked over and plucked them from her nose, folding them, and setting them down on her side table. 

It was deathly quiet apart from Widget’s heartbeat. To the point where I was uncomfortable. I sat down at the desk and grabbed a pen with a clicker and pushed it up and down to keep the silence at bay. Click, clack. I began rooting through the piles of books, the rustle of paper offering peace, and found a notebook that was dated recently. At first it was basically just recording her daily workings, analysis of books, a trip with her parents. I flipped a good chunk into the notebook and froze, my eyes plastered to the symbol that filled half of the page. It wasn’t a pentagram, that was kid’s stuff, but it was a sealing circle that could hold a minor demon or other paranormal being. Including a vampire. It wasn’t the cheap kind of circle too, that could only hold a demon for a few minutes, the kind that you’d find in phony diy dark magic books. This was intermediate dark magic you’d have to be taught directly by demons. always with a price. Kind of like if your art teacher came from the depths of hell and demanded you gave them your entire arm for an anatomy lesson. There were symbols below the circle that crawled across the page like spiders, but it was just a simple code, easy to decipher for anyone into that kind of stuff, but for the average person it would take quite a while. I read over it once. Widget had apparently attempted to host a lesser trickster demon right here in this very room and asked it to teach her illusion spells. It apparently had, at the cost of her ability to perceive colour for five days. A bargain by demon standards.

I flicked over a couple of pages and gasped, then slapped a hand over my mouth. I checked if Widget was still napping, then continued to read. There was a list of ingredients and a sigil of Resurrection. The text read;

‘I was walking home from college last week and when I opened the door I saw Francis on the floor of the hall. He wasn’t moving, but with a simple reading spell I saw what had happened. He had suffered a seizure from a brain tumor we didn’t know about, and no one was home to help him. After an hour of mourning I decided I would find a way to revive him. 

First I needed to check if he was willing to come back. I sprinkled white pepper around the body, and came back fifteen minutes later to see it had been disturbed by a couple of streaks. I gathered my ingredients, dragged his body upstairs and drew the sigil on the floor under the carpet, with a crayola marker, so as to not leave any permanent marks. I then placed his body in the middle, slit my hand open to use my blood for the ritual, burned some lavender beneath his nose and recited the words “O dormis non tempus hic” And he awoke, afraid and cowering, not realizing who I was for a moment due to the high concentrations of dark magic in me. I regret how scared his eyes looked, and how he yelped when I moved to him. But he recovered, and I now believe he is wiser. There was just something in his eyes. I told my parents I thought there was something wrong with him, and we took him to the vet. The tumor was removed and we went back to our normal lives. Anyway, the reason why I am writing this here is because I found it in a hidden book in the library where my friend, Alice, works. And unfortunately I will have to eventually return it. Who knows when I may need it again.’

I stared at the churning symbols in front of me, suddenly feeling sick. unfortunately where my body did not have a use for my heart, it did have a use for the amalgamation that was my vampiric stomach and intestines, and my brain still very much worked at creating a pulse to signal the upchuck of bile from my guts. I dropped the book and rushed to the bathroom. I vomited up a putrid inky black substance into the sink, then scrambled for the taps to wash it all away, knowing it would stain if I left it alone. I had always been a wuss, but when it came to the occult I was even more of a wuss, and the fact that I had met a dog that had once been a corpse had been too much for me. Kind of ironic since I was technically a creature of the same circumstance. 

I clenched my hand so hard that I almost cracked the ceramic sink bowl in response to Widget’s timid voice resonating through the door. “Alice? are you alright?” 

I stammered over my words. “Y-yeah? I was a bit sick I just uh, threw up a little.”

“I’m coming in, I don’t want you to faint in there and hit your head.” God she was being so considerate but I really didn’t know what to think anymore. I turned to her, attempting a grin, but frowned when she recoiled.

“Ah, sorry, your teeth are just really sharp. I was surprised.” Shit. I ran my tongue over them and made sure my teeth retracted to a decent size while my mouth was closed. “You look really pale. Well, more than usual. Do you want to lie down?” She continued. I nodded, not trusting my voice. 

She took my hand and led me back to the room, and we lay on the bed. My body was stone still, out of embarrassment or fear I didn’t know which. This girl, who probably had knowledge of the occult beyond even my comprehension, could easily be a vampire hunter or some sort of collector. No one with good intentions did dark magic and demon summoning. She could be after my teeth, or my guts or something. Or she could offer me up for a ritual for a greater demon. Oh god. My stomach tightened at the thought, and also at the feeling of Widget wrapping her arms around my waist. My insides squirmed as her hands brushed my bare stomach where my shirt had ridden up, and I felt the heat of my emotions full force, churning in my abdomen. 

I would have considered cutting her off if I weren’t such a dumb teenager at heart. I’d never been in a real relationship before and my feelings overwhelmed my sense of danger. I wanted to stay here. Maybe for eternity. I barely knew her but her touch felt natural. 

Widget’s peaceful voice fit in with the soft silence. “You acted all tough when I met you in the library, but I guess that’s not really who you are.” 

I squirmed. “Everyone says that. I’m tough and I know it, being sick doesn’t make me not tough.” I folded my arms and felt her chuckle behind me.

“Saying you’re tough doesn’t make you tough.”

“Jackie already teased me for this yesterday.” I huffed.

“Who? Is that one of your friends?” 

“Yeah, she walked me up here before I knocked cause she stayed over last night. I think you’d like her. Well, that is if you’re okay with her smelling like weed all the time.”

“I don’t mind, I’ve met weirder people.” And done weirder things.

“Well, you don’t actually seem that anxious anymore. You were really nervous when I met you the first time.” I felt her shrug behind me.

“I’m still nervous. I’m just tired, and you seem really anxious, so I’ll be the voice of reason for today.”

I turned around to face her, blushing. “It’s not that obvious is it?” She smiled. Her arm still draped over my side.

“It is. Anyway, would you like to hang out again tomorrow? I was planning to go out to the woods to get some reference photos for my art project, but I thought it might be a good little adventure for the both of us… You can bring some friends too if you like.” The thought of being alone with her again made my heart rush. But in the woods? Yeah, that was dodgy. I decided I’d invite Jackie to join us this time. Maybe Jason, but I couldn’t guarantee Daniel would be cooperative.

“Sure, you can meet Jackie, and maybe some other friends too.”

“Oh cool.”

Soon it was late. The sun had already set and the sky was a rush of gradient blues. Widget walked me to the door but we stood on the steps, apparently stalling. Francis sat, stoic, at her side.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.” Widget smiled, leaning against the door. 

“Y-yeah.” I blurted, staring like a dope. She hugged me and closed the door. I stood like a statue, glaring at the slight marks on the wood of the door in the dim twilight, and got on my bike and left.


	2. Two Kinds of Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice and co. hang out with Widget

“Dude, this is gonna be so awesome, finally we can go back to the tree house and hang out like we used to. Oh, we could even go check out the graffiti tunnel. What was that thing even used for?” I shot her a look.

We were crunching through the woods to Widget’s house. There was only a small fence around her back garden and it was pretty much open to the woods, so we took a shortcut. I doubted the effectiveness it had against wild life or criminals but I guess it wasn’t something I had to worry about. I worried anyway.

“We are not going to the tunnel. The only things that hang out there are rats, axe murderers and monsters.” There used to be a short tunnel leading to the car park of a gas station in the woods but the station had long since been torn down and the foot paths dissolved by the elements. The woods lay claim to the place like poppies on no mans land and soon it was a pitiful excuse for a ghost story. Addicts and hobos took refuge there. kids used it as a test of courage or something, which was why there was so much graffiti there. It wasn’t a huge deal and I was definitely exaggerating, but I didn’t want my friends to do something stupid.

“Monsters you say? Well its perfect for you!” Jackie exclaimed with a snort, shoving me in the side. “Besides, you gotta prove how brave you are and get some cool pictures for your girlfriend.” I felt my face heat up and I scowled. 

“Quit flapping your mouth. Jason’s here” I hushed loudly.

We rounded the side of Widget’s house and caught sight of him sitting on the curb, tapping away at a game on his phone with his earphones in. His fluffy blue moahawk perched perfectly atop his shaved head. I had always wondered how he got it so perfect. He was wearing the biggest stretchers possible with lines of rings through the helix of each ear. A tattoo snaked from around his shaved head to the nape of his neck. Because it was a snake tattoo, that was what snakes did. They snaked. and today he wore a washed out beige leather cutoff jacket over a grubby Sex Pistols shirt. What a punk, huh?

Jackie put an arm out in front of me and I watched a smirk curl on her face. My eyes widened as she crept up behind him. I didn’t dare warn him. She positioned her hands over his head and then brushed her hand all the way over his moahawk, flattening it. Jason gasped and whirled to face Jackie with the most accusatory expression. She hollered with laughter.

“Jackie I’m gonna fuckin’ KILL YOU!” He bellowed, but it wasn’t that intimidating as he was scrambling to stand up and fix his hair at the same time. He pointed a bony finger at the middle of her brow.

“You’re gonna fix this shit before we see this fidget girl, or was it midget? Shit wait what’s her name I really gotta make a good impression. I want Alice’s girlfriend to like me, really. Fuck.” I clenched my teeth.

“So you told him!?” I reeled. Jackie scratched her head.

“Naw, he just saw my texts with you.”

“Why does no one in this friendship group know how to respect privacy? I’m not even innocent myself.” I said, gesturing my hands to my chest. 

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “Who’s life have you been rooting through then?” I bit my lip.

“That’s not important. What’s important is we’re all here and we can knock on the door like normal people and you can act like normal people around Widget, okay? Fix your damn hair and, Jackie, please try to get rid of that stain on your shirt.” I snapped, pointing fingers at them. They both recoiled in surprise. Jackie examined her shirt and scratched at the stain, looking like a shamed child.

“Well, uh. We’re not the most normal lookin’ people.” Jason muttered, managing to get his hair to stick up better. It was lopsided to the left. 

I rubbed my forehead. “That doesn’t matter, she doesn’t mind my appearance so she won’t mind yours. Now come on.” I marched up to the door with two nervous idiots trailing and moping behind me, and knocked. Jason was fidgeting and Jackie was shuffling her feet, looking off into space. We heard hard footfalls down the stairs and Widget flung open the door with the same enthusiasm as a dog ready for walkies. We all stared at her. She was once again swathed by a jumper, this one yellow with a dark blue stripe across the chest. I watched her face gradually colour as she tried to compose herself, standing up straight.

“Hey Alice. Uh, its nice to meet you two.” She addressed Jason and Jackie, staring downwards, tapping her glasses at the bridge of her nose. I side eyed Jackie as she physically bristled next to me.

“Aren’t you just the cutest thing in the world, god you could even rival Alice’s love of old people things.” She babbled. I spluttered as Jackie eagerly embarrassed me and my crush right in front of my eyes. Widget seemed happy enough to meet Jackie’s undying enthusiasm, but I physically could not bring myself to look up. “My name is Jackie, this is Jason.” She continued. “Alice talks about you all. The. Time. Don’t you?” She bared her teeth in a grin at me. I grit my teeth back.

“HAHA no I don’t! you’re all acquainted now? Yeah? Let’s go we’re wasting time, time to go.” I yammered, my face pulling into a tight smile as I hooked an arm around Jackie’s neck. Jason and Widget watched as I pulled her down the path in a vicious choke hold. They looked at each other and shrugged.

I leaned down to Jackie’s choking level. “I thought you said you weren’t gonna be high for this.” I shouted as quietly as I could.

“Yeah- I’m not.” She coughed out. “Can you let go now?”

I let her go. “I should choke you for real for this, but I won’t because I love you.” I sighed. 

Jackie snickered. “Kinky.” That was it. I’m ashamed of it now but I did absolutely try to scalp her. I snatched her hat as she wriggled out of my reach.

“Hey uh, are Jackie and Alice dating…? Is this normal?” Widget asked Jason as we fought. He gave a disgruntled shrug.

“They’re just like that I guess. They actually dated once but they didn’t really do anything different than they normally did as friends, so they decided they were just really close friends. They never actually kissed. Mm, maybe I shouldn’t spill any more, Jackie has already been pretty embarrassing.” We returned to them. Jackie was winded with a punch to the gut. As luck would have it, I had no need for lungs.

“Okay, hah- lead the way kid.” Jackie panted, throwing a shaking thumbs up at Widget.

“Yeah. I mean, you live here, you can be the party leader.” I added

“Oh, I guess?” Widget smiled and began walking, and we followed her like faithful little ducklings. Well, if ducklings looked like a pack of punks. Actually, it was kind of like if the story of the ugly duckling had three different kinds of bird eggs wind up in the nest. Jackie practically towered over all of us and looked a little goofy, so she was an ostrich. Jason was some sort of exotic bird, maybe that bird of paradise I saw on a nature documentary. And me? probably just a crow. 

Widget stopped to take some pictures of the local flora. To me it was just moss and slime and fungi, but she seemed very fascinated about it. We all huddled together to get a lesson on photography composition. To my surprise, Jason and Jackie actually made an effort to listen. We marveled at the moss from then on.

I was idling, staring off into the canopy while Jackie was crossing a log over a stream. Jason was making a scene of his own, fussing over her, telling her to be careful. Jackie acted as if she were about to fall and Jason shrieked. Widget was giggling, taking photos. It felt like they were twenty meters away. I watched the red leaves sway above me, shards of light peeking through the branches, highlighting different patches of earth and soil and autumn debris. I imagined the tiny fauna warm in their nests and dens, under the bed and blanket of soil and leaves. Nostalgia gripped my hand, and a wetness appeared on my face. I thought it was rain, but it was coming from my eyes. I remembered all the times I went there when I was younger. My friends were different this time, Jackie and Jason were there, but Daniel and… Someone else, were missing. 

“Alice? Are you okay?” Widget’s voice shattered my stupor and I searched for my voice.

My voice decided to crack when I found it. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think there was just a little rain.” On cue, I felt a couple of drops hit my cheeks. We crossed the stream. I held Widget’s hand when it was her turn to balance over the log, and we joined J and J two under a tree.

“Well that’s a shame, I kind of wanted to get more photos, but I didn’t bring a jacket.” Widget sighed as the rain picked up. I bit my lip.

“Here, you can borrow mine.” I mumbled, taking off my jacket and holding it out to her. She took it with a little reluctance. It was huge on her. “The tree house is like, right past this clearing? We can duck down there and wait for the rain to clear up. It’s only been an hour, I imagined us hanging out a bit longer than that.” 

Jackie smirked at me. “Sure, we can make it there. I just hope its not too beaten up.” We began walking.

Widget pulled my jacket around her shoulders, hurrying beside me. Her face was flushed. “You should take your jacket back. it’s really cold, I’m sure I’ll be warm enough with my jumper.” Its true I was only wearing a tank top and flannel, but I was unaffected by the cold, and Widget had been shivering earlier. I could be naked, and as discomforting as that would be, I wouldn’t get sick or hurt by it.

“I swear I’m not cold. I’ve got a blanket in my bag anyhow, we can all huddle in the tree house.” I reassured with a smile. 

Thunder crashed and lightning flashed and and my smile broke with it. Everyone stumbled. 

“Holy shit that sounded really close?” Jackie screamed helpfully. 

Widget stood frozen next to me, clinging to my arm. “We’re gonna die.” She whispered, her face paling. 

“Calm down, look if it is that close then we can’t walk back, it’s too far and there’s too many trees. We gotta take the proper safety protocol for this shit.” Jason reasoned, apparently calm despite the possibility of being struck by lightning. I didn’t know if even a vampire could survive lightning. “The tree house is too high up, so we’ll have to go to the tunnel.” He continued. The sky flashed and rumbled again, causing Widget and Jackie to jump. It was nearly overhead.

“I heard somewhere that lightning can strike in caves and tunnels? I don’t know about this.” Jackie squeaked.

“The tunnel is deep enough, even if it’s pretty open, also I think the lightning would much prefer the trees to some kids in a tunnel. Don’t worry Widget we’ll get you there safe.” I reassured. She didn’t respond to me. Her face looked like ice, frozen and pale. I could hear her heart beating like the roar of an engine. “Widget?”

“I’m having a panic attack.” She whispered. 

I swore under my breath. “Okay we should get moving. Do either of you two have earphones or headphones?” Jason rummaged around in his pockets before handing me a tangled bunch of wires. 

I untangled the earphones as we walked. Widget and Jackie were hanging onto my arms, two different kinds of fear brewing through them. I plugged the earphones into my phone. Thunder cracked.

“What genre?” 

“Anything.” Her voice was so small. We stopped and I brushed her hair away from her ears to place the earphones in, faint music blaring from them. She gave a small sigh and relaxed. Not a lot, but enough. We began jogging, rain beating down. We soon sprinted into the tunnel, A half cylinder of concrete leading under a bridge of soil. We were dripping and miserable, but at least a bit safer from being smitten from the heavens. Everyone sank to the floor in quick succession.

Jackie’s nose wrinkled. “Smells like piss in here.”

“Thats probably because people piss here.” Jason observed. 

“Ew…” She curled up into a tighter huddle away from a wet patch on the ground. 

I removed a plug from Widget’s ear, careful not to startle her. “Have you calmed down a little?” She nodded, covering the lower half of her face with the huge sleeves of my jacket. Thunder rumbled and she buried her face in them, whimpering and leaning in my direction. I shuffled closer so that we were sitting against one another.

“I thought I was scared of thunder, I guess I’m just dramatic.” Jackie said with a grin.

“Do you have any actual phobias?” Jason asked. Jackie looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Alice when she’s angry, also the sound and feeling of cornstarch.” She answered, her face screwing up into a sour expression. I gave her a cruel grin and she shuffled back towards the wet patch, her frown deepening.

“Hm. Well, we all know Alice has this weird love-hate relationship with dogs.” Jason started.

“Correction,” I interrupted, “I love dogs, but I am absolutely terrified of wolves, and that fucks with me when I see big dogs.” I heard a muffled chuckle from Widget.

“You were terrified of Francis yesterday, I was so confused when you refused to let me put him outside.” She said, wrapping her arms around her knees and looking sideways at me. I saw her tense up at a flash of light through the eye of the tunnel, but the thunder lagged behind, and sounded much more distant. I smiled.

“Sounds like we’re not gonna get shocked to death.”

“Well, not shocked to death, but I really don’t like the look of that gaping fucking hole down the other end of the tunnel.” 

Jackie pointed down the far end of the tunnel and our gazes converged to an ominous looking hole. It looked as if it had been blown open, or dug, into the wall and ground. We hadn’t noticed it in the dim light. Cracks ran along the walls to where we were sitting.

“First person to go inside gets uhh…” Jackie pulled a handful of things out of her pocket. “Four pounds, a paperclip and a month old stick of fruit pastilles.” I glared at her.

“No one is going to check out the hole. We’re gonna wait for the rain to stop and then we’re gonna go to the treehouse- Jackie get fucking back here.” She got up and I got up in turn, watching her walk, nonchalant, towards this gaping hole in the fucking ground that could have been made by a giant bloodthirsty mole for all we knew. I got closer and my nostrils flared as a terrifyingly familiar scent filled them.

Jackie had switched on her phone light. “Guess I get to keep my fruit pastilles.” She mused, “Holy shit, come look at this. There’s an entire other tunnel dug behind here.” Jason was up and went to walk past me. I grabbed his arm like an iron clasp.

“Ow, what’s with you?”

“What is with you!? Seriously I can’t believe I’d be the only damn one to survive in a horror movie.” Widget walked up to my side and raised an eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t I survive?” 

“You’re too nice to survive.” I deadpanned. She squinted at me. 

I found a flutter of panic in my chest every time I inhaled, the smell was sharp and suffocating, my head pounded.

“Can we please just leave it alone.” I raised my voice in a growl, it echoed in the dark tunnel. Everyone turned to me in surprise. I scowled. “Fine, don’t come crying if you get tetanus.”

“Look, I’ll not go far, don’t worry. I just wanna see what’s in here.” Jackie said, but I had turned away, ignoring them. I was stubborn, and scared, and I didn’t understand why people would do dangerous things just to satisfy a bit of curiosity. Why couldn’t things just be normal? This wasn’t normal. I needed to calm down.

Jackie slid down a slope of rubble into the tunnel, out of sight. It was quite wide actually, but I didn’t understand why it was there in the first goddamn place.

“What do you see?” Jason asked the hole.

“Just a bunch of dirt.” The hole spoke back in Jackie’s voice. “A rock maybe? I have no clue. It’s a little boring-” 

The ground rumbled. a sound that wasn’t Jackie’s voice snarled through the hole. Jackie shrieked and scrambled to get out, falling onto the ground. 

We rushed forward to help her up. We stumbled back from the hole.

“Was there something in there?!” Jason cried. Jackie nodded so violently I thought she’d get whiplash. We whipped around as a low, rumbling snarling came from the mouth of the hole, and with it a strong whiff of the nauseating scent that was causing me so much panic. I felt my throat twist.

I stepped forward, shoving everyone back. “What are you standing here for?? Go! Like, right now!” They backed away to the mouth of the tunnel but didn’t leave. 

A silhouette loomed out of the mouth of the gaping tunnel, a huge humanoid wolf hulked out of there, shambling like a gorilla on its huge, heavy limbs. Its fur was matted and stiff, and its snout long and angular. It gave a gaping yawn. I felt my lips draw back and my teeth split my gums as a fighting instinct took over me. Its body twisted towards me and I stared at the pin prick pupils for what felt like eons. My entire body shook with adrenaline, but there was a terrifying calm to the wolf’s actions as it moved towards us, its ears brushing the ceiling. It leaned towards me as if to get a better look, and I watched as its muzzle drew back and its eyes widened as if in realization, showing canines larger than my middle finger. 

I felt its growl rumble through my heels to my chest and I lunged, punching its snout with abnormal strength. Its head reeled back and its jaw clacked shut with a repulsive snap, but it barely moved a step back. I grabbed someone’s hand and shouted at everyone to run. They didn’t need told again this time.

Our surroundings became a smear. I felt the ground stir up beneath my feet, Red leaves flaring out behind us. I ducked and weaved around trees and branches. Whoever was with me better have been agile enough to do the same.

I heard a roar. We kept going. I was running so fast that I was yanking the arm of whoever I grabbed out of its socket.

“Ow, Alice stop running so fast!” Jason yelled. 

I skidded to a halt. Jason overshot and almost flew to the ground but I yanked him back.

“Ow.” He grunted miserably.

“Fuck, sorry. Where’s Widget and Jackie? Did they get left behind?!”

“I mean, you run like the devil. And you don’t exactly have four arms to grab us all.” 

We heard a scream and whirled in unison. The wolf had grabbed Widget’s ankle as she was running and all it took was a tug to bring her down.

“ALICE!” Her voice tore through her throat and I felt my entire body tense.

Its jaws opened like a trapdoor with rows of spikes on the bottom. I couldn’t just watch as she tried to bat it away.

I was there. A split second in front of the monster and not exactly sure of my strength. I gripped its shoulders. I shut my eyes and snarled in response to its pungent breath, wafting straight into my face. It’s jaws snapped an inch away from my nose.

It kept snapping and snarling. I dug my nails into the flesh of its neck and it scrabbled at my arms. Widget watched in sickening awe from the ground behind me as I drove it back, step by step. Jason rushed forward and pulled her to her feet, too preoccupied with getting away to notice that adrenaline itself couldn’t pull off what I was pulling off.

The wolf curled its paw around my arm like a twig in a child’s hand. My eyes widened and it tightened until and a nauseating crunching noise filled the air. I screamed my tonsils raw and withdrew my arms. Then to my own surprise, I turned and threw my elbow against its soft nose, returning the favour of breaking a bone with a satisfying crunch. It recoiled, clutching its snout, and stared at me, accusing. I guessed it wasn’t too keen on having its nose pulverized.

Its claws slashed the air where I had been a second ago. I stumbled. 

“I swear I’ll break your fucking nose again you stupid DOG!” I screeched, holding my arm. It bellowed back its response.

It lunged again. I dodged and bolted. Widget and Jason weren’t far. Neither was the wolf. 

My stomach dropped and so did I. The wolf’s paw snapped around the air above me.

“Get to the treehouse!” I hollered at the other two. This wasn’t how I had imagined hanging out at the treehouse would be like.

Widget was waiting at the top of the ladder, reaching her hand out for mine. I scrambled up and grabbed it. 

We climbed into the treehouse and I turned back to the ladder. “We have to get rid of the ladder!” I shouted. 

“Wait! Wait a second, Jackie’s out there!” Jason pointed out the window. Somehow Jackie, where ever she had gone, had had the same idea. Her hat had disappeared and she was having a staring contest to the death with the wolf. Both of them were frozen. I moved out onto the wooden balcony outside the tree house, clutching the fence that bordered it. The wind whipped, rain was still lashing. 

A feeling of dread speared my chest as Jackie began running towards us. The wolf sprung. 

She was about ten metres away, the wolf was twenty. It shot like a bullet and I screamed at Jackie to hurry up. Our eyes met as it tackled her at gut wrenching speed.

The scene before me slowed. It buried its jaws in the flesh of her neck and the sound of wet meat and gristle tearing hit my ears. Jackie shrieked and went limp in about five seconds. The monster slapped its jaws around her body again, crouching over her dead body. I clenched my jaw.

I exploded. Roaring, I vaulted over the wooden railing. I hit the ground and using the momentum to propel me forward, I barreled into the wolf’s chest. It rolled and flung me off. I skidded and sprung back. I punched with my good hand and kicked and dodged. The wolf’s eyes flashed wide. It stomped backwards, trying to avoid my hits. I pushed it back. I delivered a blow right to it’s jugular and it gagged and gurgled. Its snout wrinkled and it batted me away. 

Snarling, it bound away from me, dissolving into the woods. I huffed the air, forgetting I didn’t need to breathe. I hung my neck backwards, staring up at the canopy. My legs shook with left over adrenaline. I dragged myself over to where Jackie lay and collapsed next to her. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to have a normal life with good friends. I wasn’t supposed to fight the ten foot tall werewolves that killed them. She was going to wake up right now, this was all going to be a dream. There would be no werewolves, no black magic. I would no longer be a vampire.

I hooked my arms under her and cradled her to me. Her neck hung limp, and the wound gaped like a huge cave and I sobbed. Hopelessness curled up inside me. I could smell the reek of the wolf on her and I clenched my fists in what was left of her clothes.

The thudding of boots sounded behind me before I let out an ugly whimper.

“Alice, we called an ambulance…” Widget whispered. As if it would console me. She lay a hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” My voice was garbled and harsh. I choked on rage. Casting around, I looked up, helpless, at my two living friends. Widget stared back with wide eyes through wide glasses. Jason’s gaze evaded me. 

Soon we were surrounded by police and paramedics, ordering us around in a rush. We were given shock blankets and taken to the ambulance, Jackie on a stretcher. They told me she had a very faint heartbeat, but it was unlikely that she would survive. I was too numb to acknowledge it. They allowed me to drive in the ambulance with her after I refused to let them go without me. Jason and Widget were taken in a different car. I watched her body on the gurney as it rattled. I noticed her chest rising and falling. It was faint, but it was there. I should have felt hopeful.

I was given a once over by a doctor, had my arm placed in a cast and left to dry. Someone escorted me to wait outside the room they were treating Jackie in. Everything between that was simply not there, I couldn’t focus. The world was swirling and ending before me, crumbling. The blank white hospital walls didn’t soothe my mind either, there was too little to focus on. My mind felt like it was being mixed around and prodded like a pot of stew. My best friend was going to die and I couldn’t do anything about it because I was pathetic and wrong and selfish and abnormal-

“Alice!” Widget rushed over to me, but didn’t move to hug me. I remembered shrugging her off and looked down, feeling guilty. She sat down next to me and laced her fingers together.

“You don’t have to say anything. I know...” I looked up and my eyes widened, remembering what she wrote in her notebook about Francis. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to avoid her wide eyes.

“A hug would be… nice.” She gave a smile laced with the same melancholy I felt. Shuffling over, she wrapped her short arms around me as much as she could. I melted like ice in the palm of her hand, leaning into the warmth. I couldn’t stay tough forever, or else I’d have to take on the role of brooding vampire, which was the last thing I wanted.

“Where did Jason go?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“They’re keeping him a little while longer, apparently he’s in shock. And, um. The muscles of his arm were pulled really badly and it was dislocated. ” I squeezed my lips together and wrinkled my nose.

“I guess that was my fault.” I muttered. Widget stared at me, her eyebrows knit together.

“Do you, like, know martial arts or something?” With that I realized how much she had seen me do to the wolf while we were fighting. I sweated mentally, trying to form a coherent excuse.

“Haha? Yeah, a little. I guess, I mean.” Shit. I lost track of my vocal chords, “ I learned some when I was a kid, yeah. And I go to the gym sometimes.” Now that was a blatant lie. I spent all my spare time goofing off with… Well.

I deflated with a sigh, my muscles as depressed as my brain. Widget looked sideways at me and then stared at the door in front of us. I felt something soft brush over my hand, and her fingers intertwined with my own. She ran her thumb over my knuckles. I looked up at her.

“It’ll be fine.” She said to the hallway. Her words were solid. How I hoped she was right, that it would all suddenly resolve itself.


End file.
